Camelot UK Lotteries Limited: Half-year financial results (2014-15)

Camelot UK Lotteries Limited (‘Camelot’) today announced that total UK National Lottery ticket sales for the first six months of its 2014/15 financial year (1 April – 27 September 2014) were £3,469.8 million, an increase of £158.0 million on the corresponding period last year and the second-highest interim total since The National Lottery launched in 1994.

During the period, Camelot generated £867.7(1) million for National Lottery Good Causes – taking the total raised to date to over £32 billion. National Lottery funding has now enabled more than 430,000 individual awards to be made across the UK – the equivalent of 138 National Lottery-funded projects in every postcode district. Over the same period, Camelot awarded £1,926.2 million in prizes to players – taking the total paid out to over £53 billion and the total number of lottery millionaires to more than 3,600.

Camelot’s overall performance over the half-year was driven by strong growth in both Lotto, following its successful re-launch last year, and instant play games – with sales of the latter breaking a number of records as a result of the launch of 30 innovative new games, higher prize payouts and the continuing rollout of up to 10,000 standalone terminals to meet untapped demand for National Lottery Scratchcards.

Total sales over the half-year would undoubtedly have been even higher had EuroMillions enjoyed as many big jackpot draws as it did in the first half of 2013/14 and had there been a repeat of last year’s special ‘100 UK Millionaires Raffle’ draw. Camelot is confident that its plans to refresh EuroMillions with a raft of exciting changes – which have always been planned for the second half of 2014/15 and include the introduction, for the first time ever, of some great non-cash prizes – will drive sales of the game over the second six months.

Andy Duncan, Chief Executive Designate of Camelot UK Lotteries Limited, said: “Thanks to the strong performance of both Lotto and instant play games, we’ve made a very positive start to the 2014/15 financial year. Delivering over £2.7 billion for National Lottery projects and players in just six months is a fantastic achievement.

“As we look forward to celebrating 20 years of The National Lottery next month, we’re determined to build on this momentum. We’ve just successfully launched a major new online and mobile platform, which is transforming the way players interact with our games across all devices. On top of that, we’ve got really exciting plans for the second half of the year – including special birthday events to thank our players and, starting later this month, some amazing new prizes on EuroMillions – which will ensure that The National Lottery continues to be truly life-changing for players and society.”

Camelot UK Lotteries Limited has also today published its accounts for the 2013/14 financial year. These show that, from total ticket sales of £6,730.9 million, £1,751.1 million was raised for National Lottery Good Causes and £3,636.6 million was awarded to players in prizes. Over the same period, £807.7 million was paid to the Government in Lottery Duty and £304.5 million was paid to retailers in commission. Camelot’s profit after tax in 2013/14 was £58.5 million. In line with previous years, this represented less than 1% of total revenue, while over 90% of total revenue went back to winners and society.

(1) Figures do not include investment returns on National Lottery balances which are reported separately.

Notes to Editors:

Camelot UK Lotteries Limited is the licensed operator of The National Lottery® and is committed to raising money for National Lottery Good Causes designated by Parliament. Camelot is not responsible for distributing or awarding these funds.

Each week, Camelot generates around £33 million for National Lottery-funded projects – in total £32 billion has now been raised and more than 430,000 individual grants have been made across the UK, the biggest programme of civic and social regeneration since the 19th Century.

The National Lottery has so far given away over £53 billion in prizes and created more than 3,600 millionaires or multi-millionaires since its launch in 1994.

Camelot runs the most cost-efficient major lottery in Europe, with around 4% of total revenue spent on operating costs.

The UK National Lottery is ranked at just 53rd in the world in terms of per capita spend, despite being the sixth largest lottery in the world by sales – clear evidence of Camelot’s longstanding commitment to being a responsible operator.

In the six months to 27 September 2014, total sales of draw-based games were £2,232.1 million, a fall of £31.4 million on the corresponding period last year, while total sales of instant play games increased by £189.4 million to £1,237.7 million – a record first-half performance.

Over the same period, total in-store sales were £2,867.3 million, an increase of £117.0 million on the previous year. Accounting for around 83% of all sales, retail remains the largest National Lottery sales channel.

Total interactive and subscription sales were £602.5 million, a rise of £41 million on last year. Leading the field of digital lottery innovation and e-commerce, Camelot operates Europe’s largest online lottery in terms of sales. With over six million players, national-lottery.co.uk is one of the top 10 e-commerce sites in the UK.